“Earlier this morning, the Manhattan Correctional Center confirmed that Jeffrey Epstein, who faced charges brought by this Office of engaging in the sex trafficking of minors, had been found unresponsive in his cell and was pronounced dead shortly thereafter of an apparent suicide. Today’s events are disturbing, and we are deeply aware of their potential to present yet another hurdle to giving Epstein’s many victims their day in Court. To those brave young women who have already come forward and to the many others who have yet to do so, let me reiterate that we remain committed to standing for you, and our investigation of the conduct charged in the Indictment – which included a conspiracy count – remains ongoing.

We continue to urge anyone who feels they may be a victim or have information related to the conduct in this case to please contact 1-800- CALL FBI.”

4chan post appears to have detailed Jeffrey Epstein's death before news broke

by Joan E. Solsman

An anonymous post to the notorious 4chan imageboard on Saturday appears to have provided details of Jeffrey Epstein's death before the first news reports of the disgraced financier's suspected suicide.

The 4chan post, which was earlier reported by Buzzfeed News, was published more than a half hour before the initial news reports that Epstein, who was held on charges of sex trafficking, was dead.

Epstein "died an hour ago of hanging, cardiac arrest," according to the post, which was published at 8:16 a.m., about 40 minutes before an ABC reporter tweeted that Epstein was dead.

The post included an image of Pepe, a cartoon frog that has been adopted by the far right.

In subsequent posts, the author of the post appears to have added further information about procedures that were used to revive Epstein, suggesting the poster may have been a first responder or medical professional.

The New York Fire Department "reviewed the alleged information and determined it did not come from the department," the department said in a statement.

4chan didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Imageboards, which long been dark backwaters of the internet, have become the focus of public attention in the wake of a spate of hate-motivated killings.

A man who allegedly killed 22 people in an El Paso, Texas, Walmart is believed to have posted a racist manifesto to 8chan, another imageboard, just before the attack.

The gunman who killed 51 people in two New Zealand mosque shootings in March was linked to an 87-page white nationalist screed that also appeared on 8chan.

Links to a hate-filled open letter were also posted to 8chan by the person who shot a synagogue outside of San Diego in April.

8chan has since been taken offline and its owner, Jim Watkins, has been requested to testify in front of Congress.

Over the weekend, a man who claimed to have shot a mosque in Oslo posted links to a Facebook stream on Endchan, another imageboard, before the attack, according to the site's operators.

The operators took the main version of the site offline.

Like many forums on the internet, imageboards range in topic from mundane to niche and fringe.

Anime, junk food and porn are popular subjects for the participants.

Because users can post anonymously, many imageboards have become gathering places for people spreading hate or extremism.

One 4chan board dedicated to politics, /pol/, is filled with racist language and anti-immigrant messages.

On Wednesday, a letter written by Brandan Tarrant, the suspect in the New Zealand shootings, was posted to 4chan, apparently by a supporter in Russia.

Corrections officials in New Zealand reportedly confirmed the letter's authenticity.

The web of shell companies Jeffrey Epstein employed to enshroud his fortune played another, sinister role for the financier, forming the hidden foundation of a “brazen and powerful organization” he used to molest and exploit girls and young women, according to three new civil lawsuits.

The claims against his $578 million estate, its executors and the companies themselves -- made one day after Epstein’s will became public -- add new allegations to those he faced when he committed suicide in jail on Aug. 10 2019.

They seek unspecified damages for medical and psychological expenses, humiliation, trauma and other injuries suffered as recently as 2017, far beyond the time period laid out in the criminal case.

Epstein, 66, died two days after writing his will.

According to the suits, two of the plaintiffs were 17 at the time the alleged assaults began and one was 20. His death is no impediment to their pursuit of civil claims.

“They’re still in a good position,” said Susan Gary, a law professor at the University of Oregon.

The challenge “is proving as required by law that he injured them and they should get benefits for their injury.”

The defendants include the executors, Darren Indyke and Richard Kahn, lawyers who were directors for a nonprofit Epstein had in the U.S. Virgin Islands called Gratitude America.

Efforts to reach Indyke and Kahn were unsuccessful.

Among the companies named in all three suits are one that owned Epstein’s Manhattan mansion until 2011; his money-management firm, Financial Trust Co.; and HBRK Associates Inc., which allegedly helped arrange travel for Epstein’s accusers between New York and Florida.

A Richard Kahn was listed as the registered agent for HBRK in New York state corporate filings in 2008.

Two of the complaints name as a defendant the company that once owned Little St. James, the smaller of Epstein’s private islands in the Caribbean.

Little St. James was one of the locations from which Epstein ran a “complex commercial sex trafficking and abuse ring,” according to the lawsuits.

He relied on associates and employees to orchestrate illicit encounters with girls and young women, the suits say, directing “a complex system of individuals” that worked “in concert and at his direction, for the purpose of harming teenage girls through sexual exploitation, abuse and trafficking.”

This team included “chefs, butlers, receptionists, schedulers, secretaries, flight attendants, pilots, housekeepers, maids, sex recruiters, drivers and other staff members,” according to the suits.

Epstein -- who faced federal charges in New York that could have imprisoned him for 45 years -- had been sued numerous times.

After he served 13 months in jail in Palm Beach following a guilty plea in 2008 to state charges including soliciting prostitution from a minor, he settled more than two dozen suits by women.

They claimed he lured them when they were teenagers to his mansion there, coerced them into sex, paid them and asked them to recruit others.

Three of those cases, filed by clients of Brad Edwards, settled for a total of $5.5 million.

Edwards is the lawyer for the women who filed the complaints Tuesday in federal court in New York.

The plaintiffs aren’t named because of the “sensitive sexual nature” of the cases, the suits say.

Late Tuesday, Edwards submitted arguments on behalf of VE, another client who last week sued Epstein’s estate and three of the same companies targeted by the latest suits, asking the court to allow her to proceed anonymously.

“Epstein’s vast wealth and far reaching connections make it clear that retaliation could be employed against individuals pursuing claims against the estate” and could deter witnesses, according to the filing.

VE’s anonymity will serve society as well, which “has an interest in eradicating the predatory practices of powerful men against vulnerable, susceptible women.”

One of the them, identified as Katlyn Doe, says Epstein tricked her into having sex with him while he was on work release from the Palm Beach jail -- he was allowed to leave to go to a nearby office six days a week -- and manipulated her into a phony marriage.

She says she agreed to come to Florida after he promised her a job at his office there, and that HBRK coordinated her travel.

Instead, Epstein forced her to “engage in sexual encounters” with him and another young female.

The office was the headquarters of Epstein’s Florida Science Foundation, which is a defendant in her suit.

The Palm Beach County Sheriff is conducting an internal investigation into the conditions of Epstein’s sentence.

He served 13 months of an 18-month term as part of a secretive deal that involved a federal non-prosecution agreement negotiated by former U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta.

He was forced to resign last month as U.S. Secretary of Labor amid harsh criticism of that deal, which the Miami Herald wrote about in a 2018 series called Perversion of Justice.

In her lawsuit, Katlyn Doe says that people around Epstein would often remind her of his “extraordinary power to reward and punish.”

She was 17 when she first met him, she says, suffering from an eating disorder and an unspecified medical condition that required surgery.

Epstein promised to give her $20,000 for an operation, coming through with $10,000 when she agreed to marry an Epstein associate who was seeking U.S. residency, the suit says.

Epstein said he would hand over the rest when the marriage ended but didn’t do so after the 2017 divorce, according to the suit.

Epstein continued to sexually abuse Katlyn Doe until 2017, the suit says.

Plaintiff Lisa Doe claims she was 17 and an aspiring dancer when she met Epstein in 2002.

He told her he was “close personal friends with some of the most influential names in dance” and would help her if she taught a dance-based exercise class at the home of a wealthy New York man, the suit says. Epstein instead coerced her into sexual encounters and derailed her career dreams, the suit says.

She says he “controlled every aspect” of her life and she feared crossing him.

In her suit, plaintiff Priscilla Doe says she was 20 when an Epstein “recruiter” asked if she wanted to visit his mansion to give him a massage in 2006.

An associate of his taught her the “exact way” he liked to receive oral sex and Epstein “forced himself on her and took her virginity,” according to the complaint.

While Epstein was receiving massages, the suit says, he took calls from four people, referred to in the suit as “Important Business Person” 1, 2, 3 and 4.

The plaintiff says she was forced to “engage in commercial sex” on each of more than 20 trips to the Virgin Islands between 2006 and 2012.

Epstein was assisted by people around him, the suits say repeatedly.

“Each of the employees and associates were paid through companies believed to have been funded by Jeffrey Epstein and, regardless of such funding, were disciples of Jeffrey Epstein, constantly informing plaintiff and other victims of Jeffrey Epstein’s power and ability to improve or destroy a victim’s life depending on her level of cooperation.”

RadarOnline.com has learned that Allison Mack’s former cult has been ordered to cough up more than $1 million after losing a civil lawsuit.

According to federal court papers obtained by Radar, a New Jersey judge ruled in favor of an investigative firm called Interfor and against NXIVM.

The court ruling was long-anticipated, as the legal battle first began back in 2006.

“It is on this 26th day of August, 2019, ordered that judgement is entered in favor of crossclaimant Interfor, Inc. in the amount of $1,369,157.51 against crossclaim defendant NXIVM Corporation on Interfor’s crossclaim for contractual indemnification,” the United States District Court of New Jersey papers claimed.

As Radar readers know, Mack’s former cult leader was found guilty of seven felonies earlier this summer including sex trafficking and child exploitation.

Mack herself faces up to 30 years in prison for playing a high-level role in the corrupt organization.

Her sentencing date originally scheduled for September 11 2019 was postponed and has yet to be rescheduled.

According to the ruling, New Jersey judge Katharine S. Hayden claimed that NXIVM has until October 15, 2019 to file an opposition.

According to local outlets in Albany, New York – close to the former NXIVM headquarters – Interfor is a New York-based company that NXIVM recruited back in 2004 to investigate cult expert Rick Ross.

Ross was the leader of the Cult Education Institute.

NXIVM originally sued Ross in the early 2000s.

According to online reports, NXIVM is being ordered to pay up because it originally agreed to a “contractual indemnity clause” requiring the organization to take financial responsibility if Interfor were to be involved in any “claim, lawsuit, obligation, action, cause of action or cost or expense.”

At first, NXIVM assumed responsibility and paid over $160,000 as part of the agreement, The Albany Times Union reported.

However, in 2007, the now-exposed cult refused to pay any additional amounts and claimed that Interfor performed work beyond what the parties intended on.

Interfor ended up filing a cross-claim against NXIVM and then settled with Ross.

Raniere’s sentencing date has yet to be finalized.

However, the disgraced cult leader faces life in prison for his horrific treatment and abuse of women.